Where’s Left for Pete Alonso to Sign?
Of the bat-first, power-hitting right-handed hitters, Pete Alonso is the lone player left in free agency who could move the needle for a team. Anthony Santander signed Monday with the Blue Jays. (Congrats to them on landing someone!) Teoscar Hernandez, Tyler O’Neill, Gleyber Torres, Paul Goldschmidt, and others have come and gone, and Pete finds himself at the end of the market, short on options, years, and dollars he thought he’d take advantage of this winter.
That being said, he will land somewhere and have an impact—at least in the short term. Where’s left for Pete Alonso to sign? Let’s take a look at some options.
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Right Back Home
The Mets have a glaring hole at a corner on the infield. Whether Mark Vientos shifts to first or he sticks at third, there’s a gap on the other side. We’ve long hashed what the infield could look like if Pete comes back or leaves. Despite insights from a couple of reporters, a bevy of others still say Pete returning to New York is in the cards. Signing A.J. Minter and Jesse Winker doesn’t prevent that.
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners traded their Opening Day first baseman, Ty France, away in the middle of the year and replaced him with Justin Turner. Turner provided more pop, but he wasn’t any sort of long-term fit. Their top power-hitting prospect, Tyler Locklear, severely underwhelmed in his cup of coffee last year. The plan currently seems to be to make Luke Raley more full-time first baseman, but having Alonso in that slot makes a ton of sense. It gives their team with below-average power more pop, and lets Raley continue to bop around where needed.
Toronto Blue Jays
Despite signing Anthony Santander, the Blue Jays reportedly still have interest in Alonso. With all the tough lefties in the AL East, bulking up righty power makes sense. Having a Vlad Guerrero Jr. backup makes sense, too. But fielding two of Alonso, Santander, and Vlad Jr. would be tough on their defense. They also just forked over $92.5 million to a power-hitting righty who struggles on defense and are probably about to negotiate another $400 million+ with Vlad Jr.
Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies, Sacramento Athletics
Lmao.
Los Angeles Angels
You never know what kind of deal Arte Moreno wants to give out. He’s been relatively tame this offseason. There were reports early in the offseason the Angels were interested. If all it takes is three years and $100 million, you can’t rule out an owner like Moreno.
Sure, there a ton of teams that would take Alonso on a short-term, opt-out-laden deal, but it seems based on the last back and forth with the Mets, he’d prefer to sign that kind of deal with the team that raised him. It might be a painful next couple of weeks for the Mets and Alonso, but ultimately, I think the road leads back to Queens.
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